For all the potentialHalo Infinitehas to push the envelope for the franchise, many fans came away from its big showing this week less than blown away. Most of thecomplaints so far have centered onHalo Infinite’s graphics, but in news that may upset people even more, it turns out they won’t be able to pet any of the animals they’ll come across.
Of the many metrics used to gauge a game’s quality, few are quite as wholesome as whether a game lets players interact with its virtual animals. “Can you pet the dog?” has become a fairly common meme among gamers who can’t resist the charms of adorable in-game creatures, and as such more games areletting players pet the animals, withGhost of Tsushimabeing the most recent big example.
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TheHalo Infinitecampaign demo shown at this week’s Xbox Games Showcasehad fans wondering if the game will follow suit, as it featured plenty of animals wandering around the demo’s open-world area. Unfortunately, an IGN interview with 343 Industries’ Chris Lee and Paul Crocker plainly states, “The only interaction you can have with wildlife on the ring is, uhh, them getting caught in the crossfire. You cannot pet any animals inHalo Infinite.”
As for why the animals are even there, Lee explained that their inclusion is just one of the ways 343 is trying to up the immersion for players exploring thenew Halo ring that serves asInfinite’s main location. Another is the inclusion of a day/night cycle that he said was added to “capture that immersion for players that you’re on this Forerunner ring.”
From what’s been shown of the game so far, it’s clear thatInfinite’s gameplay will be more open than past titles. In addition to larger areas with more objectives to tackle and secrets to discover, players will have more ways to traverse them, as evidenced byMaster Chief’s new grappling hook.
However, 343 has recently stated thatInfiniteisn’t fully open-world, falling more in-between the structure of classicHalotitles and standard open-world games, and Lee reiterated that point to IGN. “This time players will have the freedom to explore the ring. But we are telling a story with a beginning, middle, and end that we want to carry the player through as you go,” he said.
Halo Infinitewill launch this holiday season for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
